Workers' ‘Labor Day’ wish: an end to job contractualization

Workers’ Labor Day desire is for job contractualization to end as soon as possible, arguing that they can no longer wait for President Benigno Aquino III to step down and the next president to take oath before something is done about it.

“On Labor Day, workers will remember how this administration did nothing to end the exploitation of labor through contractualization. On Election Day, laborers will have a choice for who can help stop this anomaly,” said Kabataan party-list Rep. Terry Ridon.

Most, if not all, of the presidential candidates have tackled the issue of contractualization. In fact, the subcontracting of labor is one of the major issues related to election.

For instance, in the last presidential debates, Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, Sen. Grace Poe and Vice President Jejomar Binay have all vowed to put an end to contractualization. This practice is considered to be illegal; however, there have been issues with its implementation.

There has been a growing increase in terms of complaints against establishments and other businesses that do not hire workers beyond a five-month period.

Contractualization saves these companies huge amounts of money as they are not required to provide benefits as well as other perks enjoyed by their regular counterparts.

Ridon said that workers who are affected by this practice cannot expect any change as long as “Daang Matuwid” would continue in the next administration.

On the other hand, Bayan Muna Rep. Carlos Zarate said that seeing the end of the Aquino administration gives them hope that someone, the next president perharps, would be more sympathetic to the plight of these workers.

“I hope that we will have a new president, a new administration that will prioritize the interest of our workers, that will truly take care of our workers by banning contractualization, by making nationalist industrialization a priority so that more stable jobs can be created,” said Zarate.